


Strong Enough, Smart Enough, Brave Enough

by MYuzuki



Series: A Motley Little Crew of Dysfunction [4]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Brother Feels, Brothers, Canon-Typical Violence, Concussions, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Swearing, because I suck at tags and we all know it XD, because Jason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 01:45:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12159060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/MYuzuki
Summary: The Red Hood is having a good night, all things considered. Then Oracle calls him and asks him to locate Nightwing, whose tracker has gone offline during his patrol.He reluctantly agrees (because things can go wrong, and Jason worries, even if he won't admit it) and sets out to find his brother.He doesn't expect to find him in a Dumpster.





	Strong Enough, Smart Enough, Brave Enough

**Author's Note:**

> This little piece was inspired by a dialogue prompt from corvidprompts over on tumblr. I wasn't sure which characters to use at first, but I finally settled on Jason and Dick because I love Jason, and his interactions with Dick are always fun to write. In this particular instance, Dick is patrolling as Nightwing, but he happens to be injured and not quite on top of his game. He ends up getting knocking into a dumpster during a fight, Jason arrives to lend a hand, and ta-da! ;D The title comes from the quote "Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it." I had a lot of fun writing this, because it's basically just a small little piece that shows Jay and Dick making some progress on the becoming-brothers-again front.
> 
> Original prompt:
> 
> "Excuse you, I am doing a fine job of protecting this city."
> 
> "You're ass over teakettle in a dumpster at the moment."
> 
> "Catching my breath."
> 
> "You need help."

Jason's night is going pretty smoothly, all things considered. He's broken up two gang shootouts, stopped three muggings, and intervened in one convenience store robbery attempt, and the only damage he's taken are a couple bruises and a laceration on one arm from where a knife attack had come just a little too close.

A good night, all in all.

It goes a bit sideways when his comm crackles to life and Oracle starts talking in his ear.

"Hood, what's your location?" Barbara asks, voice curt through the distortion.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it," is his immediate response, perhaps just a touch defensive. His reconciliation with his estranged siblings has been going surprisingly well (especially given how prickly and damaged they all are) but he knows they're still wary of him sometimes, knows that sometimes they still worry about whether or not he'll kill the criminals he fights, even when he's agreed to follow Bruce's rules while he's in Gotham.

"I'm not accusing you of anything, Hood," is Oracle's exasperated response. "Nightwing's tracker has gone offline and I can't raise him on the commlines. I need someone to go to his last known location and track him down to make sure he's okay."

"And your first choice for that is me?" Jason asks, letting his disbelief color his tone (although he thinks the effect might be partially lost thanks to the voice modifier in his helmet, but whatever). "You do realize how obnoxiously huge our family is, right? There's no one else you can send?"

"Batman and Robin are currently engaged in a fight with Clayface, and Red Robin is preoccupied with a hostage situation at the bank on 23rd Street."

"What about Spoiler and Black Bat?" Jason demands, because surely his sisters are a better choice for a Richard Grayson rescue than he is.

"Also busy with their own duties," Oracle answers, starting to sound annoyed. "Jason, you know I wouldn't be asking you if it wasn't important. Can you  _please_  just make sure Dick's okay?"

Well, shit. Jason can't say no to that, not when Babs is so clearly worried about Dick.

(And truth be told, he's starting to get a little anxious himself, the more he thinks about it. It's not like Nightwing is incapable of looking after himself, but anything can go sideways on a patrol and...well, he's Jason's big brother. Jason's entitled to worry about the guy at least a  _little_ , right?)

"Alright, fine, I'll go," he tells her, trying to sound grudging but probably falling way short. "Where was he when his tracker cut out?"

There's a short huff of air through the comm, as if Babs is giving a soft sigh of relief, and then she answers with, "He was on the northern edge of Chinatown before I lost contact with him. It's only been about ten minutes since then, but you know how fast he moves, so..."

"So he could be pretty far from there by now, yeah," Jason says in agreement. "Well, I'll start at his last known location and proceed from there. Send me the coordinates?"

"Sure thing," Oracle says, and Jason's phone buzzes a moment later. "You be careful, too, alright?"

"Aren't I always?" Jason asks lightly, and chuckles under his breath when Barbara's answer is to hang up on him.

He, unsurprisingly, does not find Dick at his last known location.

He does, however, manage to track brother through the streets and back alleys relatively quickly; he finds Nightwing in the middle of a fight with five heavily armed thugs, and arrives on the scene just in time to see one of the bad guys knock his brother off of a two-story building and into a dumpster.

Jason's immediate response is, of course, to jump right into the cluster of thugs with both guns blazing. He manages to keep himself in check and use crippling shots rather than fatal ones, but it's a bit more of a struggle to aim for non-vital points when he'd just seen his brother tossed off a roof and into a giant trash bin. (It's twice as worrying because not only had Dick not aborted or redirected his fall, he still hasn't crawled out of the dumpster.)

Before long, the five thugs are one the ground, either unconscious or clutching their grievously injured limbs. Jason surveys them for a moment, checking to make sure that they're not going anywhere anytime soon (they're very definitely not), and then vaults off the edge of the roof to land in the alleyway below.

He hustles over to the dumpster just in time to see Dick finally poking his head out of it, looking around warily.

Since Nightwing's currently got a half-rotten banana peel danging from one shoulder as well as something suspiciously slimy gunking up a patch of his hair, Jason's first instinct is to laugh, and he does.

Dick stares at him for a moment, like he's confused by the Red Hood's presence (or maybe just confused by the fact that's he's  _laughing_ , which is...fair, because Jason doesn't laugh outright as much anymore). "Jaybird?" he says, sounding more than a little befuddled. "When did you get here?"

"Right around the time you took a swan dive off the roof into this heap of trash." Jason kicks the side of the dumpster and frowns at the way Dick winces at the loud clang. A concussion, maybe? Hm. "This is a good look for you, by the way," he says offhandedly, waving at the banana peel. "Very classy."

"Shut up," Dick grumbles, trying and failing to heave himself out of the dumpster; one of his boots slips in something distinctively squishy-sounding and he goes tumbling back into the heaps of garbage. "Oh,  _come on_."

"You know," Jason says, keeping his tone conversational, "somehow this does not paint a very confidence-inspiring picture of you as a protector of Gotham."

"Excuse you," Dick retorts, "I am doing a fine job of protecting this city."

Jason makes a skeptical sound. "You're ass over teakettle in a dumpster at the moment."

Dick finally hauls himself upright again and glares at Jason. "Just catching my breath," he says defensively, and the look on his face is practically a dare.

Jason sighs. And they call  _him_  the unreasonable member of the family. "You need help," he tells his brother flatly. "You're tired and more than likely nursing at least a low-grade concussion. And probably some bruised ribs, too" he tacks on, noticing the way Dick is favoring one side of his torso whenever he moves. "Now, are you going to let me help you, or should I just leave you here sitting in the trash?"

Dick glares at him for a moment, then deflates like a popped balloon. "I could...maybe use a little assistance," he admits, voice resigned.

"That  _is_  what I'm here for," Jason replies, rolling his eyes even though he knows his brother can't see it. "Your tracker and comm got damaged while you were fighting, by the way," he informs his brother as he helps drag him out of the dumpster. "Oracle's pretty worried."

"Shit," Dick says, giving another wince. "She's going to be pissed I didn't ask for help."

"She's not the only one," Jason remarks, and Dick cringes again. "You do realize that it's okay to ask for back-up, right? You don't need to carry everything on your shoulders and fight alone."

"I find it downright absurd to hear that from  _you_  of all people," Dick fires back, looking annoyed. "And it's not like I actually  _need_  the help," he adds, just a touch defensively. "I can take care of myself."

Jason shrugs. "I'm an asshole with trust issues," he says, deciding to address the first half of his brother's response rather than the second. "I know that, you know that,  _everybody_  knows that. I have issues with asking for help, but Dick..." He huffs out an irritated sigh. "You're not me."

(He knows Dick can manage fine on his own, but the point is that he doesn't  _have_  to; it's a strange role reversal, for sure,  _Jason_  trying to convince  _Dick_  that he doesn't need to work alone and has people who can back him up.)

"Oh, really?" Dick asks, sarcasm thick in his voice. "Gee, I hadn't noticed that, thanks."

Jason resists the urge to smack his brother on the back of the head; the only thing holding him back is Dick's probable concussion. He takes a deep breath before speaking again, just to be sure his temper's under control. "Can you stop trying to pick a fight to deflect me?" he demands, crossing his arms. "I'm  _worried about you_ , for fuck's sake. Can you just let me help, for tonight at least? So I don't have to wake up tomorrow and wonder if my stupid ass older brother got himself killed in the middle of the night because he was too proud to ask for help?"

Dick stares at him for a long, long moment like he's somehow said something incredible and unexpected (which is ridiculous, okay; Jason might be an asshole, but he does still care about his family), and then gives a sad, tired smile. "I...I probably could use a little help," he admits, swallowing hard. "Sorry for snapping at you, Jaybird," he adds, voice soft with something like pride and affection in his eyes as he looks at Jason. "That wasn't fair. I'm just tired and hurting and having a shitty night."

"No worries," Jason assures him, clapping him lightly on the shoulder and steering him towards the end of the alley. "I am more than familiar with those kinds of nights and totally understand. Now, let's pay a quick visit to the closest safe house so I can check out your injuries and get you a fresh comm and tracker, okay?"

"Okay," Dick says, smile growing a bit as he seems to realize that Jason really does intend to stick by his side for the immediate future. "Okay, yeah, that sounds good."

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so, it was a really short piece, but I had fun with it anyway. I hope you guys all enjoyed it, too! :)
> 
> The next ficlet in this series is either going to be a three-chapter ficlet full of angst and drama that centers on Bruce and Jason, or a much more ridiculous (and also much shorter) ficlet involving a two story tall robot penguin and Jason wanting to blow things up. I've already started both, but I'm not sure which will end up finished and posted first. Probably the angsty one, since it's taken me hostage and won't let me go til I finish, lol. XD


End file.
